Stock Market & Financial Investment News

InterDigital sees getting $125M cash from Sony, says patents valued at $28.9MInterDigital (IDCC) noted in its 10-K yearly filing that in December of last year it formed a joint venture with Sony Corporation of America (SNE), called Convida Wireless, to focus on driving new research in M2M wireless communications and other connectivity areas. InterDigital disclosed that its agreement with Sony is a multiple-element arrangement that also includes a three-year license to its patents for Sony's sale of 3G and 4G products, effective January 1, and an amount for past sales. Under the arrangement, InterDigital said it expect to collect a total of $125.0M of cash and has also acquired certain patents covering non-baseband technologies from Sony with an estimated value of $28.9M. InterDigital added that it recognized $22.3M of patent licensing revenue in Q4, and it expects to recognize $116.6M of patent licensing revenue, using the straight-line method, over the three-year term of the patent license. The remaining $15.0M represents funding toward M2M research and platform development, InterDigital said. In early trading, shares of InterDigital rose 55c, or 1.25%, to $44.51.

Sony mobile president seeking profitability first, WSJ reportsIn an interview with the Wall Street Journal, president of Sony Mobile Communications Hiroki Totoki stated he recognizes the company "should become a meaningful source of profit to the group... The business canít be justified if the profit margin is low." Totoki wants to stay in the mobile business for the next cycle of innovation, saying that "we wonít tie ourselves only to smartphones or even hardware" and adding that the unit is "open to tie-ups with thirds parties." Totoki also sees potential for the brand in India. Reference Link

Sony breach underscored failings in corporate, government cooperation, WSJ saysA Wall Street Journal review of the hack attack on Sony Entertainment shows that the companies and government agencies fighting the hackers based some decisions on little information or consultation since the parties often held too closely to their own interests, illustrating major shortcomings in how the government and companies work together to respond to such attacks. The Journal cites interviews with executives, U.S. officials and people briefed on their conversations in its report. Reference Link

Sony may be contemplating replacing CEO Hirai with CFO Yoshida, NY Post saysSony may be considering replacing CEO Kaz Hirai with current CFO Kenichiro Yoshida, reports the New York Post, citing several Hollywood sources. Yoshida has received heavy media praise for his restructuring efforts and is currently set to add the title of executive deputy president in April. The article emphasizes that this is speculation among Hollywood figures. Reference Link

InterDigital says likely to pursue avenues for review after CAFC rejects appealInterDigital reacted to the decision by the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit to reject the company's appeal of the U.S. International Trade Commission's decision in the 337-TA-800 investigation, with CEO William Merritt stating, "We are disappointed by the Federal Circuit's decision, and will in all likelihood pursue the avenues for review that exist. Most importantly, our '613 ITC case where we previously prevailed at the Federal Circuit, and our active cases in Delaware involving ZTE and Microsoft, are based on different patents and are not controlled by this decision. We remain very confident in the strength of our portfolio, and in our ability to continue to grow our licensing program."

InterDigital drops after reportedly lossing appeal in patent caseShares of InterDigital (IDCC) are moving lower after Bloomberg reported the company lost its bid to revive patent-infringement claims against Microsoft (MSFT) and ZTE Corp. over mobile phone technologies. Shares of InterDigital are down 83c to $50.06.

Sony sets FY17 ROE target of more than 10%Sony held its Corporate Strategy Meeting and unveiled a mid-term strategy that charts the path forward for the company over the next three years. Sony said it will position Return on Equity as its primary key performance indicator and has set a target for consolidated ROE of more than 10% and a target for consolidated operating profit of more than 500B yen for the Sony Group in FY2017, the final year of its mid-range corporate plan.